Sunday in Dunedin and on to Takepo

While exploring Dunedin Yesterday, we had spotted the Knox Presbyterian Church on George Street not far from our B&B. It is actually the first church we have seen in New Zealand with an sign inviting others to worship with them at a given time.

 So on Sunday morning we joined them for the 10:00 worship service.  Rev Dr Kerry Enright is the new pastor there and was an interesting fellow.  He was a retired lawyer who was called to the ministry.  The congregation was very friendly to us, and we enjoyed hearing their vision for the future.  He was aware of the need to live out your Christianity with action, and has ideas for a youth ministry and more outreach.  He encouraged the congregation to think about where the church should be in 3 years.  He was very encouraging and uplifting.  We did not recognize many of the hymns, but the lyrics were meaningful.  They did not have hymn books which made singing a little more challenging.
http://knoxchurch.net/index.html

There was "tea" after church, but we headed out on the next leg of our journey towards Lake Tekapo.

We stopped at Moeraki Boulders to see the unique rock boulders on the sandy beach.  It
looked like a giant had left his bocci ball set strung along the beach.  We were delighted that we were blessed with not only a sunny day, but the beginning of some warm weather. 

 A cute little girl helped us out with this picture of Tom and me checking out this ball.  It is obviously a bowl that is washed out every day by high tide and was full of water and had kelp growing in it. 

 These rounded balls are hollow and have strange infrastructure with in them.  Some of them are 7 feet in diameter.  It is a popular spot with lots of families walking on the sand or eating lunch in the restaurant hung over the beach.

They seemed to have been formed as balls of brown calcite with both concentric and radial cracks of yellow calcite. 

  Our view from the little cafe and gift shop overlooking the beach.  We got a table as soon as the huge tour bus left the site. 

We are staying in Tekapo Heights tonight, a beautiful new B&B above the lake. We have a big room full of light and also with a heated bathroom and a shower that does not leak! 

We took a drive into town to see the little village and saw the Church of the Good Shepherd overlooking the lake and the Southern Alps. We think this is a view of Mount Cook over Lake Takepo. Mount Aoraki / Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand. Latest measurements give  its height of 12,300 feet.

The only restaurant open on a Sunday night was the McKenzie grill.   Lucky us, they had table topped cooking of a granite stone heated to 730 F degrees.  So I am grilling chicken, beef and shrimp for dinner - serendipity!